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A while back, I fell to the temptation of the grocery store magazine stand and bought 500 Best Movies of All Time, a money-grabber put out by Us Weekly. I thought it would be a ranking of 500 movies, and I would be able to list the ones that I have seen. Instead, they broke it down by category and added a bunch that almost made the list.

That means that the movies are in no particular order. With that being said, here are the ones that I have seen with a short description of each.

Avatar – Dances With Wolves in space

Black Panther – A great hero and a great villain

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid – Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head

Casablanca – Great first name for the main character

Citizen Kane – A jigsaw puzzle and a sled

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial – No cell phones in those days

The Godfather – Still cannot believe that Fish was the traitor

Harry Potter (The Whole Series) – Great faculty reviews

Gone With the Wind – Looks different from a modern point of view

Inception – Do not dream of spinning tops

Pulp Fiction – John Travolta is everywhere

Raiders of the Lost Ark – It will melt your face

Rocky – The greatest fighter who never lived

Star Wars – A lot of people wear hoodies

The Wizard of Oz – Where does the Red Brick Road go

Titanic – Move over and let him up there

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off – Where is the truant officer

There’s Something About Mary – Brett Favre

The 40-Year Old Virgin – Sacrifice for the role

National Lampoon’s Vacation – I have been on that trip

Beverly Hills Cop – Great theme song

Chicago – Song and dance

Reservoir Dogs – Colors are the key

All the President’s Men – Deep Throat should still be a mystery

The Departed – Where is Whitey Bulger when you need him

Sin City – Great animation

L.A. Confidential – Great actors but thin plot

The Wolf of Wall Street – Not the only wolf

The Manchurian Candidate – Foreign meddling in an election

The Untouchables – Bring in the IRS

Rudy – Ugh

A Few Good Men – Lawyer v. Witness

Scent of a Woman – Pacino should have won for something else

Boogie Nights– The return of Burt

Million Dollar Baby– Not a happy ending

The Help – Watch out for the pie

Stand By Me – Best Stephen King adaptation

Lady and the Tramp – Spaghetti

Bambi – Thumper is a great sidekick

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory – I still look for a Golden Ticket

The Searchers – John Ford, John Wayne and Ward Bond

Tombstone – Who set the building on fire

True Grit – Eyepatch

Unforgiven – They should never have killed Morgan Freeman

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – Ecstasy of Gold

Superman – Strings attached

The Last of the Mohicans – Daniel Day-Lewis as a superhero

Guardians of the Galaxy – A talking tree and a talking raccoon.

True Lies– Arnold and Jamie Lee

Enter the Dragon – A Bruce Lee classic

Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Best friends collide

The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King – He returns to Oscar glory

Back to the Future – 88 mph

Skyfall – One of the best non-Sean Connery Bond films

Argo – Harrowing escape

The Bourne Identity – Matt Damon as the toughest man alive

Taken – And rescued

Zombieland – Twinkies

The Dark Knight – When the villain steals the show

Die Hard – Is is a Christmas movie

Doctor Strange – Superheroes are strange

The Hunger Games – Reality television gone over the edge

Wonder Woman – A superhero for the ages

Silver Linings Playbook – Still not an Eagles fan

2001: A Space Odyssey – The monolith is trouble

Apollo 13 – Lost in space

The Matrix – Red pill or blue pill

The Fifth Element – Excellent science fiction

Predator – Hunters are hunted

Minority Report – Philip K. Dick

Star Trek – A truly new generation

Blade Runner – Deckard

Men in Black – Nice shades

Close Encounters of the Third Kind – Devil’s Tower

Good Morning, Vietnam – Perfect for Robin Williams

Caddyshack – Best golf ever

Ghostbusters – Who you gonna call

Braveheart – Blue face paint

Full Metal Jacket – Gomer Pyle and Joker

Top Gun – Definition of the 80s

Schindler’s List – Spielberg’s masterpiece

Apocalypse Now – Going in country to find Marlon Brando

The Bridge on the River Kwai – Blow it up

The Patriot – Not really accurate

Cast Away – Yes, Nashville got an NFL team

Dallas Buyers Club – McConaughey at his best

The Big Chill – Great soundtrack

Fast Times at Ridgemont High– Teenagers in the 80s

Network – The future of television

It’s a Wonderful Life – He got the wings

Rain Man – Charlie and Raymond

The Exorcist – Captain Howdy

The Lost Boys – Another great soundtrack

Jaws – Iconic poster

The Birds – What about all the poop

Rear Window – The perils of being a Peeping Tom

Gremlins – Watch out for midnight

The Silence of the Lambs – Fava beans and a nice Chianti

The Green Mile – Filmed nearby

The Sixth Sense – Not hard to figure out

Wow, that is an even 100 of what Us Weekly thinks are the 500 best movies of all time. I need to get to the theater more often.

Oh, here are some of the alternates I have seen.

Airplane!

American Pie

Beetlejuice

City Slickers

Coming to America

The Hangover

Happy Gilmore

La La Land

Mary Poppins

Nashville

Walk the Line

American Gangster

Dirty Harry

The Fugitive

Goodfellas

Heat

Leon: The Professional

Ocean’s Eleven

Shutter Island

Training Day

The Usual Suspects

12 Angry Men

All the King’s Men

Almost Famous

Big

Casino

The Deer Hunter

Driving Miss Daisy

Fight Club

Forrest Gump

Gladiator

Good Will Hunting

The Breakfast Club

Frozen

Jumanji

The Jungle Book

The Karate Kid

Pinocchio

The Pirates of the Caribbean

Shrek

Who Framed Roger Rabbit

300

Armageddon

The Avengers

Blood Diamond

Casino Royale

Con Air

Deliverance

First Blood

The Game

Goldfinger

I Am Legend

Iron Man

Lethal Weapon

Mission: Impossible

The Road Warrior

Speed

Spider-Man

The Revenant

Thor: Ragnarok

Watchmen

X-Men

Zero Dark Thirty

Breakfast at Tiffany’s

Ghost

The Graduate

Jerry Maguire

Out of Africa

Pretty Woman

District 9

Independence Day

Interstellar

Planet of the Apes

Starship Troopers

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Total Recall

Office Space

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Spaceballs

Stripes

Tootsie

Trading Places

Wedding Crashers

A Beautiful Mind

Catch Me If You Can

Chariots of Fire

Glory

JFK

Lincoln

The Social Network

Black Hawk Down

The Dirty Dozen

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Dunkirk

Patton

Platoon

Saving Private Ryan

Hoosiers

The Hustler

The King’s Speech

The Natural

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Remember the Titans

The Truman Show

Big Fish

Bram Stoker’s Dracula

The Crow

The Devil’s Advocate

From Dusk Till Dawn

Misery

Mulholland Drive

Mystic River

A Nightmare on Elm Street

No Country for Old Men

North by Northwest

The Prestige

Se7en

Unbreakable

V for Vendetta

Zodiac

So, that is 121 of the also-ran’s that I have seen. Wait, do the also-ran’s also count as part of the 500? Instead of counting, let us just say that I have seen 221 of the movies listed in a magazine that was a complete waste of money.

There have been several Movie Wisdom posts. Some of them have focused on leading actors, and others have focused on character players. This one covers the movies of one of the all time great character actors.

Ward Bond appeared in a ton of classics, but this list only includes the ones I have seen. Let us see what wisdom can be found in the works of Ward Bond.

From Gone With the Wind

Tomorrow is another day.

With enough courage, you can do without a reputation.

From The Grapes of Wrath

A fellow ain’t got a soul of his own, just little piece of a big soul, the one big soul that belongs to everybody.

Seems like the government’s got more interest in a dead man than a live one.

Maybe there ain’t no sin and there ain’t no virtue, they’s just what people does.

Well, a woman can change better’n a man.

Takes no nerve to do something, ain’t nothin’ else you can do.

From The Maltese Falcon

Talking’s something you can’t do judiciously, unless you keep in practice.

The best goodbyes are short.

From It’s a Wonderful Life

No man is a failure who has friends.

Youth is wasted on the wrong people.

From Hondo

A man oughta do what he thinks is best.

Everybody gets dead.

Women always figure every man comes along wants ’em.

From Johnny Guitar

There’s only two things in this world that a ‘real man’ needs: a cup of coffee and a good smoke.

When a fire burns itself out, all you have left is ashes.

A man who can’t hold on to a glass should drink like a baby from a bottle.

Earlier, I was flipping through the channels and landed on The Shootist, John Wayne’s last movie. It is not my favorite, but, since it is the Duke’s final film, I have seen it several times. I guess that means I do not have this one memorized like a bunch of the other ones.

Despite it not being a favorite, The Shootist has some good parts. James Stewart makes a cameo and having him in a movie is always a good thing. Ron Howard also appears during his transition from Opie Taylor to Richie Cunningham to famous director. Lauren Bacall shows up as Bond, a character named in honor of Ward Bond.

The movie has some good scenes and some good lines, but the ending always gets to me. Perhaps, it is because I know that it is the last time John Wayne appeared on film. The movie is about an era coming to an end and, although they did not realize it, the movie also marks the end of a career.

I have always wonder about the actors who took part in that final shootout. In the years that followed, did they think about that scene? Did they feel honored to be part of it? Did they care?

In short, John Wayne sets up one last gunfight with three people who would like to kill him.

Richard Boone was well-known as Paladin on Have Gun, Will Travel and had been in a bunch of movies, including John Wayne’s Big Jake.

Hugh O’Brian played the title character in The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp and had a bit part in In Harm’s Way with John Wayne.

Bill McKinney, a native Tennessean, accomplished something that could be unique. He was killed in the movies by John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. The final scene in The Shootist did not work out for him, and, earlier that same year, he played Captain Red Legs Terrill in The Outlaw Josey Wales.

Each one of those actors could challenge John Wayne in a gunfight, but, in true Duke fashion, they could not do him in. Instead, he was shot in the back by the bartender.

That is the whole point of this post. Who was given the role of shooting John Wayne in the back? Who killed John Wayne in his final film? After an extensive search, I discovered that the role went to an uncredited actor named Charles G. Martin.

He had sixteen acting credits, and The Shootist was also his last movie. Unfortunately, more information was hard to come by. I found no pictures and little about his life. He was born in Arlington, Texas in 1912 and passed away in Sarasota, Florida in 1998.

If anyone knows more about Charles G. Martin, then I would be interested to read about it.

I have been struggling for something to write about. Everything that comes to mind seems like a stretch. In other words, it would not flow naturally, and I would be forcing the issue. This morning I read a post by Garry about his disappointment with Three Bad Men, a book about John Ford, John Wayne and Ward Bond. I read that book and was disappointed, as well. Garry’s complaint is more serious than mine. I just thought it was a badly written book.

The post brought to mind the reading that is going on in our house. My stepdaughter is constantly reading a book, and I could not be more proud. Right now, she is in the middle of the Pretty Little Liars series. I have no idea if they are any good, but I know that a kid who loves to read will probably take that love with them throughout their life.

I love reading and am constantly in the middle of a book. Usually, it is something that I do while on the treadmill. I know a book is good when I miss the times when I am supposed to increase the speed. I know that a book is not as good when I am constantly glancing at the timer for my cue. However, it does not matter the quality of the book. When I start one, I have to finish it. I finished Three Bad Men, and I promise that it was a chore.

At the moment, I am reading The Quick, a novel about the mysteries of Victorian London. It started slow but is starting to get better. Before that, I read Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History. You know it is a history book when it has a title that long.

Speaking of history books, I recently submitted a book review of Tennessee Women in the Progressive Era: Toward the Public Sphere in the New South. Any day now, I expect to receive an email explaining revisions that need to be made.

A few days ago, my wife started book that has been in the drawer of her bedside table for a while. She is really into it and tells me all about it when she puts it down. She has been reading this blog and thinks that I should try my hand at fiction. I may dabble in it a little, but there are other important things to do. It is almost syllabus time, and I have also spent several weeks putting together a new course for the fall semester. Who knows? I may give it a quick shot during my spare time.

Anyway, there is always a book being read at our house. There is always some writing going on, too. It could be a blog, which my wife is started to do for her business. It could be a review. It could be something fun. Whatever the case, we are always reading or writing.

We just finished walking around the neighborhood. As we did, I noticed a man through a window. He was working at his desk, and I began to wonder what he was working on. Was he writing the next great novel? Was he writing a letter? Was he blogging? At the moment, I am sitting by a window, and people are probably looking in and wondering what I am doing.

I like to think that people like what they read here. It’s a hodgepodge of stuff, but it comes right out of my head. Sometimes, It’s travel. Sometimes, it’s music. Sometimes, its stories from the past. All the time, it’s something that is stuck in my mind and needs to get out.

I am not sure what needs to get out tonight, so I will just go down the list of categories on this blog and type this first thing that fits.

Academics – School starts back soon. That means inservice.

Agriculture – The other day, I got gas at the Farmer’s Co-Op.

Art – There is a guy named Art who works at Beauty Boutique, Necole’s store.

Biography – The last one I read wasn’t very good, It was about Ward Bond, John Ford and John Wayne. It should have been good.

Books – I just finished The Eye of God by James Rollins. It is the further adventures of Grayson Pierce.

Childhood Memories – Tonight, I mentioned that my parents had a Weeping Willow in their front yard, and I used to play under it.

Comedy – Nothing is funny, at the moment.

Community – I was named to the local Planning Commission. This afternoon was my first meeting.

Crime – Tonight, I found out that a guy I once knew tried to kidnap his wife and lock her in a closet. Hopefully, he will get what’s coming to him.

Did You Know? – I forgot about this category. It needs to be revisited.

Dining – Tonight, we had a home cooked meal of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese and green peas.

Dreams – Lately, my dreams have been less than memorable.

Government – Necole went to the DMV this morning. There is no reason they should be that slow.

History – I am getting my lecture voice warmed up.

Movies – We watched Batman Begins, and I realized that the guy who plays Joffrey on Game of Thrones was in it.

Music – We have a couple of concerts coming up – Don Williams and The Eagles.

Nature – There’s a great article about sugar in the latest National Geographic. Everyone should read it.

Photography – In a few days, we are getting more wedding photos made.

Rambling Ruminations – I think that is what this post is all about.

Relationships – I’m married.

Religion – I would like to write about it more, but a few things are better left unsaid.

Sports – College football is about to start, and my team, the University of Tennessee, is in the Southeastern Conference. However, you’ll never hear me chant S-E-C. I cheer for one team and hope the other ones lose every week.

Stupid Stuff – It’s an accurate description of this post.

Television – I’m waiting for Justified to crank back up.

Therapy – I used to go. I don’t anymore.

Travel – We just returned from California and will be heading to Arizona soon.

Writing – Am I the only person who doesn’t mess with those writing prompts?

The folks at Entertainment Weekly just came out with a bunch of lists. The 100 greatest television shows. The 100 greatest novels. The 100 greatest albums. The 100 greatest lists of great things in popular culture. It is perfect fodder for “Listeria”, the ongoing examination of our fascination with lists.

This is an examination of the magazine’s list of the 100 greatest movies, or, as my dad used to call them, the picture show. When I was a kid, he would ask if I wanted to go to the picture show because he knew it drove me crazy. For those who don’t know, the picture show was a southern term for the movies. He said a lot of other things to drive me crazy, but that one was a sure thing.

Never fear, I am not going to write about 100 movies. I am going to list the ones that I have seen. To add some texture, I think I will include my favorite thing about each one.

Oh, there will also be a little trivia at the end.

1. Citizen Kane (1941) – The line, “A toast, Jedediah, to love on my terms. Those are the only terms anybody ever knows – his own.”

2. The GodFather (1972) – The line, “Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.”

3. Casablanca (1942) – Rick’s Cafe

6. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) – The floor that separates to form an indoor swimming pool

9. Nashville (1975) – The song, “It Don’t Worry Me”

10. Gone With the Wind (1939) – The coolness of Rhett Butler

12. The Searchers (1956) – Monument Valley

14. Bambi (1942) – Thumper

18. Jaws (1975) – Quint’s story about being on the USS Indianapolis

19. Pulp Fiction (1994) – The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy My brothers. And you will know My name is the Lord when I lay My vengeance upon thee.

24. The Sound of Music (1965) – When it was over

25. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – The music

28. The Wizard of Oz (1939) – The Red Brick Road (where does it go?)

29. North by Northwest (1959) – Mount Rushmore

33. The Graduate (1967) – Katharine Ross

41. The Road Warrior(1981) – The kid with the decapitating boomerang

43. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King(2003) – Gandalf

49.Goldfinger (1964) – The Kentucky Fried Chicken in one of the scenes

85. Dirty Harry (1971) – The line, “I know what you’re thinking. “Did he fire six shots or only five?” Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?”

99. There WIll Be Blood (2007) – The line, “Drainage! Drainage, Eli, you boy. Drained dry. I’m so sorry. Here, if you have a milkshake, and I have a milkshake, and I have a straw. There it is, that’s a straw, you see? You watching?. And my straw reaches acroooooooss the room, and starts to drink your milkshake… I… drink… your… milkshake!”

Trivia – Ward Bond (pictured above) was in at least 5 of the top 1oo movies. This includes 3 of the top 12.